Most of the world is suffering in a chronic state lacking fresh drinking water. This leads to a shortage of water for agriculture which makes it expensive or impossible to grow crops effectively.
Increased need for water conservation in recent years has led to higher food prices and higher costs for farmers and consumers alike. The need for conservation has stemmed from higher demands on food production and higher population bases in localized areas. Water authorities around the United States, and the world are enacting watering limits and water usage expectations to ensure the valuable resource is being used carefully.
In addition to agricultural needs, residential, sporting and landscaping all consume water at an alarming rate. It has been shown that in commercial crops, the amount of water used will greatly affect the profitability of the farm and therefore farmers are economically motivated to use the water carefully. Residential users of water are also motivated to conserve water for economic reasons.
Soil is a variable mixture of minerals, organic matter, gases, liquids, and various biological organisms. Commonly, soil is mainly comprised of a composition of various percentages of sand, silt, and clay. The ability for soil to retain water is highly dependent on the average particle size as the water “takes up the space” between the soil particles and the water tension is the mechanism which holds it in position. Many commercial farms or large agricultural areas do not have a uniform soil type consequently various areas require more/less water to maintain the same crop yield and quality.
Due to a lacking of accurate methods and devices for assessing water content of soil, farmers and other users of soil often end up using more water than necessary or optimal, or end up distributing water in a sub-optimal manner, such that some areas are watered less than optimal, and other areas are overwatered. This may cause direct environmental concerns, but also can create economic losses by water expenditure and crop yield loss.
As such, considering the foregoing, it may be appreciated that there continues to be a need for novel and improved devices and methods for soil moisture measurement.